My Baghdad Neighborhood

Reporters on the Job: When working in Iraq, it can be difficult to connect with your surroundings due to all the security concerns that limit your movement.

The threat of kidnapping or other attacks means Westerners can’t take a walk through their own neighborhoods.

While reporting today’s story about the Iraqi housing market (page 1), coincidentally, everyone from well-to-do real estate agents to displaced people were in some cases just a stone’s throw away from the Monitor’s Baghdad office. So for me, it was an opportunity get to know my neighborhood.

It was interesting to see some of the diversity in the area and see how everyone gets along. Getting to know your neighbors can be such a simple pleasure. But it’s one that can be hard to come by in Baghdad.